10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2012

My experience would have it that the pre-Christmas period is filled with an urgency to try get everything done at work that desperately needs to be taken care of, attend a million Christmas get-togethers, and racing about through crowded shopping districts. The Racket-tailed Treepie was not the rarest bird I saw in 2011.

2011 191

2011 Mongoose Thailand Birds 191

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

2014 has been a good year for us at 10,000 Birds. We’ve traveled to lots of places, seen lots of great birds, and met lots of great birders. So, as we’ve done for the last several years we thought we would share our Best Birds of the Year with you. Below are our Best Birds of the Year. What was yours?

2014 206

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

Yes, the warbler formerly known as Dendroica kirtlandii , now Setophaga kirtlandii , is one of those birds that make birders’ hearts pulse quicker and their legs churn faster. Look what happened when the bird made the first of three appearances at the Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh!

Michigan 248

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 248

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

The thought of which takes me way off topic to think about this crazy cool video of a crazy cool bird: [link] Anyway, back to Laem Pak Bia… and like most birders dashing through Bangkok, we made a quick detour in to the salt pans and wetland systems to see what was about. Javan Pond Heron on a pole. But I guess you guessed that.

Thailand 178

Thailand Birds Parrots Breeding 178

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

My review copy (well, actually a contributor’s copy—more on that later) was waiting for me when I returned from the ABA birding tour of Thailand and Malaysia (more on that in a separate post) in early March. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family.

North America 168

North America Sparrows America United States 168

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2019

The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia, edited by Yong Ding Li & Low Bing Wen. And now I am holding the “The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia” – an expanded and fully updated second edition of “The 100 Best Birdwatching Sites in Southeast Asia”. That is about it – I do not know much more about this region.

Asia 234

Asia Laos Myanmar Indonesia 234

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Some of those “statistical errors” came as surprises to me, e.g. Cuba, Bolivia, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Thailand (this is also a clear message to their tourism boards to invest more into promoting avitourism). Interestingly, the respondents felt no need to further elaborate why, presuming that everyone knows why they should bird Costa Rica.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

The Eurasian Wryneck is the woodpecker that doesn’t look like a woodpecker, the bird with the portmanteau name that is also a medical condition (and which may remind some people of a Nora Ephron essay). They are slim and small-headed birds and their bills are fine, not strong and dynamic. This is a very easy book to read.

Woodpeckers 256

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 256

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Interestingly, one study found that Nonggang Babbler nests frequently visited by bird photographers had a higher hatching success rate than those not photographed. This species seems to frequently join mixed-species flocks – in research in Thailand, the species was found in 20% of the mixed-species flocks.

China 147

China Vietnam Birds Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2019

Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but with more than 1000 bird species, palm-fringed sandy beaches, developed tourism infrastructure, moderate prices and political stability, Thailand is a country you definitively want to visit. Now, which field guide to pack? of Rufous-fronted Babbler.

Thailand 206

Thailand Zambia Birds Asia 206

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2012

No matter, the warm fire and comforts of home are nice, as is the winter birding here. On the way I managed to sneak in a manic day of birding in and around the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. So much birding was squeezed into this day that I have had to break it up into two posts!

Thailand 157

Thailand New Zealand Terrapins Asia 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. British birder Chris Gooddie, my new birding hero, not only dreamed the fantasy, he lived it. That’s Pitta, people, not Antpitta, which is what I foolishly first envisioned, having never birded beyond the Americas.)

Hunters 211

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 211

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Sometimes, when I’m writing trip reports about far off places (relative to most of my readers) I wonder what exactly people make of some of the birds I mention seeing. Is a Coua a bird or a city in Brazil? Is a saw-wing a bird or an engine part? Is a logrunner a bird or a black market timber trader? What a treat!

Australia 175

Australia Fiji Hunters Family 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

I don’t remember where I first learned about Elizabeth Gould–possibly when I was birding Doi Angkhang, Thailand and saw a stunning little bird named Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird–but I have been fascinated by her story and her art for the past five years. And I’m so happy I did. Twelve years!

Australia 215

Australia Birds Europe Collecting 215

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2024

Frankly, Ho Chi Minh City is not a place you would go to specifically for birding. But if you are there anyway (at the start of a longer birding trip) and have an afternoon to spare, then why not? This indicates that the bird is aware of where the predator is looking. eBird states that there are nearly 50 of them.

Vietnam 193

Vietnam Zebras Birds Sparrows 193

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2011

Around lunch-time, the morning mists and drizzle had lifted and then the hide really started to get going as all the forest birds came from near and far to drink and bathe at the water hole. But besides a few images, I feel I kinda missed really capturing the essence of the bird. Actually, that is not completely true.

Thailand 176

Thailand Birds Asia Collecting 176

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2011

Of all the dangerous sports birders risk their necks in in the pursuit of birds, birding while driving is perhaps the most common threat to the life of a birder of all. So, inspired by a similar article on road birding in Thailand, I present road birding in New Zealand.

New Zealand 184

New Zealand Birds Thailand Falcons 184

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2020

Will bird tour agencies, guides, eco-lodges survive? Will the threatened species make it through if there are no birding tourists to make those birds and their habitats valuable to local people just the way they are (as opposed to tropical timber)? What will be left of birding tourism? Colombia 1959 bird species 2.

Uganda 262

Uganda Bolivia Ecuador Indonesia 262